Chapter 6 - The broken mirror fell into the grass.Every shard reflected something different.
In one piece, I saw myself as a child.
In another, I saw my mother.
In another, I saw Silly crying.
Then I noticed something.
One shard reflected Silly exactly as she was now.
She stood inside the memory corridor.
Her hands were tied.
Mai was standing behind her.
I picked up the shard.
“Silly!”
She looked up.
Her eyes widened.
“Don't break the glass.”
“Why?”
“It connects both sides.”
“I'm coming in.”
“No!”
She screamed.
“Listen to me!”
The tree groaned.
The hollow began opening.
“There's something you don't know.”
“What?”
“I wasn't bringing you here to sacrifice you.”
“Then why?”
“To replace you.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
Mai stepped closer behind her.
Silly looked at me.
“When I was twelve, the tree gave us a choice.”
“You or me.”
“You were too young to understand.”
“I chose myself.”
She looked down.
“But the tree refused.”
“Why?”
“Because it doesn't take people who volunteer.”
My breathing stopped.
“It takes people who believe they're innocent.”
I looked at the tree.
The whispers returned.
My name.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Silly continued.
“You were marked when you were six.”
“That's why you don't remember.”
“You weren't supposed to remember until tonight.”
“Why tonight?”
“Because this is the anniversary.”
“Of what?”
“Your mother's bargain.”
My hands shook.
“What did she promise?”
“One child.”
“And she gave me to it?”
“She tried.”
“But Dad stopped her.”
“What?”
“Dad discovered the ritual.”
“He interrupted it.”
“And?”
“The tree took him instead.”
I couldn't speak.
My father had died when I was seven.
We'd been told it was a car accident.
Silly whispered:
“It wasn't.”
I felt something break inside me.
“You're saying Dad died because of the tree.”
“Yes.”
“Then why have you never told me?”
“Because Mom made me promise.”
“Promise what?”
“That I'd finish the ritual when you turned twenty.”
I stared at her.
The ground seemed to tilt.
“You knew this whole time.”
She nodded.
“I've spent eight years preparing.”
“Preparing to kill me?”
“To save you.”
“Then why bring me here?”
“Because the ritual requires the chosen person to arrive willingly.”
“You had to trick me.”
“Yes.”
The tree began shaking.
Branches slammed against one another.
The hollow opened wider.
A deep roar came from inside.
Silly looked terrified.
“We're out of time.”
“What happens at 1:00?”
“You disappear.”
“And you?”
She looked at Mai.
“I stay.”
“No.”
“You'll forget me.”
“No.”
“You'll forget Dad.”
“No.”
“That's the price.”
The clock on my phone changed.
12:49.
Eleven minutes.
The mirror shard in my hand became warm.
A voice came through it.
My father's voice.
“Son.”
I froze.
Silly heard it too.
“Dad?”
The shard showed a man standing in the memory corridor.
My father.
Exactly as I remembered him.
He looked older.
Tired.
But he smiled.
“Don't trust Silly.”
My sister went pale.
“That's not Dad.”
He spoke again.
“She made the bargain.”
“She brought you here.”
“She wants your place.”
Silly screamed:
“Don't listen!”
My father's face changed.
His eyes turned black.
His mouth opened far too wide.
And he smiled.
The tree shook violently.
The voice whispered:
“Choose.”
Silly looked at me.
“Whatever happens…”
May you like
“Do not choose me.”
Then the forest went completely dark.
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